Related Articles

The Department of Health is completing a consultation document, Protecting Children, Supporting Parents. It commissioned it after the European court ruled that the stepfather was guilty of assault and that English law had failed to protect the boy from "inhuman or degrading treatment".

The Scottish Executive's decision raises the prospect of England and Wales adopting similar measures to comply with European law, although Tony Blair has admitted that he has smacked his children occasionally.

Mr Wallace, who is also the Justice Minister, said: "We propose to ban physical punishment of children up to and including the age of two.

"Up to this age, it is very doubtful that a child would understand why he or she was being punished and, if the child were in any imminent danger, it should be possible for an adult to restrain or remove the child from danger rather than punish them."

Although welcomed by child psychologists and children's charities, the plans were condemned by the Scottish Conservatives as "misconceived and unnecessary".

Lord James Douglas Hamilton, their justice spokesman, said: "No one doubts that these proposals are well intentioned. Unfortunately, they smack of the nanny state.

"Jim Wallace should resist his apparently insatiable desire to legislate and instead choose to trust the good sense of the courts which are best placed to determine what is reasonable and what is unreasonable when it comes to the disciplining of children."

Children are already protected by law from unreasonable chastisement, but Mr Wallace's plans will give the courts guidance. Punishment would range from admonishment to fines or jail sentences in severe cases.

Penny Leach, a child psychologist, said: "Ten European nations have made physical punishment of children illegal. This is an enormous first in Britain, given Tony Blair's intransigence."

Lorraine Gray, a spokesman for Children 1st, welcomed the move, but said: "We would like a complete ban on physical punishment."

Sweden was the first country in the world to prohibit corporal punishment of any children.

In 1979 it added a provision to its parenthood and guardianship code, which now reads: "Children are entitled to care, security and a good upbringing. They are to be treated with respect for their person and individuality and may not be subjected to corporal punishment or any other humiliating treatment."

Phillip Noyes, the policy director of the NSPCC, said: "An adult hitting a child of any age is not right and there are much better ways to discipline children. The Scottish proposals move us one step closer to the goal of full legal protection for all children in all parts of Britain."